Courage C26S

Details

C02‐02 is the second Cougar ever built out of a total of just some 11 chassis. Produced by Yves Courage and his famous racing concern Courage Competition, the car was fitted with a Cosworth DFL V8 engine. It was first entered in the C1 class by main sponsor Primagaz at Le Mans in 1984 where, driven by Courage/Michel Dubois/John Jellinek, it retired with oil pump failure after 153 laps. The same year it was also rented to Budweiser Racing/John Jellinek for a couple of races in the IMSA Championship in America, and in 1986 it was temporarily sold to America where it was modified and renamed a JRE-¬‐SR71 before returning to Courage Competition. The car then served as a backup works car until 1988, by which time it had evolved into a C12, before running in the C2 class at Le Mans the same year, again entered by Primagaz; driven by Max Cohen-Olivar/Patrick de Radigues it took the flag but was not classified having only covered 273 laps after long delays.

Chassis C02¬‐02's next appearance in the 24 Hours was the following year where it returned to the C1 class as a C22LM with Porsche 962 power and Porsche transaxle; it again encountered ill fortune when Patrick Gonin/Bernard de Dryver/Bernard Santal retired after 168 laps with an electronics failure. The car's final contemporary Le Mans outing came in 1991 as a C26S, powered by a 2.8 litre Porsche 962 engine, in the C2 class; alas, crewed by Chris Hodgetts/Andrew Hepworth/Thierry Lecerf, it was perilously close to the minimum weight limit and was disqualified from the race at the post qualifying weigh in. For the remainder of 1991 it served as a works backup car in the World Sportscar Championship and it was subsequent to this that the Cougar was purchased by the Le Mans Museum.

Acquired in 2002 by keen racer Mike Jankowski ‐ and founder and owner of Creation Autosports which runs two front¬‐running LMP1 class Creation-Judd chassis in the Le Mans Series ¬‐ from the Le Mans Museum. Once in the hands of Creation Autosports, chassis

C02‐02 was comprehensively taken and apart and reassembled in 2004, during which the engine was completely rebuilt by Porsche race engine specialist Bob Watson Engineering, prior to its first outing and race entry since 1991 in the Le Mans Legends race supporting that year's 24 Hours; problems with the Bosch electronic engine management system, however, led to its withdrawal after qualifying. Jankowski then raced the car in group C events alongside his LMP1 drivers, Jamie Campbell-¬‐Walter and Nic Minassian before the car was sold at the end of 2010 to the current owner.

Since then the car has been campaigned in Group C races across Europe and is supplied with a fresh 1 race old Bob Watson engine. It is eligible to run at the front of Group C racing in 2013.